Checkmate

Re: Getting started in Champions with two young boys Personally I would stick with 6th as 5th is no longer supported, might as well make the switch now (even though I personally prefer 5th). I've been playing Champions since 3rd Edition, this is what I would suggest you buy in order of importance: Hero System Basic Rulebook Hero Designer That's really all you need. If you are familiar with running a Superheroes game, Champions is a nice to have if you have money to burn. I feel it really isn't for someone who's run superhero games before, you can get much more bang for the buck with other books. I would get Champions Universe before I'd buy Champions. CU gives you a ready made world. There are some "example" characters in there to give you an idea of what you should be looking at. Hero Designer is an absolute MUST for any beginner. This is the character maker software. While you may think, "I'm not that lazy, I can do it by hand", I'm not recommending because of it makes your life THOUSANDS of times easier (it really does) I'm recommending it because it will teach you so much about making characters. Believe me I've always been the "I'll do it by hand" guy, used to make 4th ed characters without a single book in Chemistry class. I decided to be a Beta tester of the original Hero Designer (It's on version 3 now), and it absolutely convinced me to buy it and keep it current (you actually buy a two year contract that gives you the program, forever, and updates for up to two years. You are also able to access a database where other users contribute Characters, prefabs, and templates, which will make more sense when you buy it).

Re: Any one have a write on Iron Man's "Silver Centurion" armor? What was different about this one than all his other armor?

Re: Too versatile! It sounds like your inspiration (I don't know if that's the right word, but can't think of a better one) comes from your powers, try to shift focus to something else, like personality, origin, or even limitations. Personality - A boyscout always trying to do the right thing, someone who is unfamiliar with current culture, a soldier type that solves every problem with violence. You can also tie this in to a type of relationship, maybe your doing what you do to save your wife, or become closer with children. Origin - An alien from outer space, someone trapped in an alternate dimension for years, or some other way of getting powers that inspires you. Limitations - One of my favorite energy projectors was a Green Lantern type with wrist bands instead of a ring. He had an END Reserve that would only recover when he was in Secret ID. The thing was, he had no idea how his powers worked. So he'd be using his powers at a moderate level all day and have no problems, but in a big fight his powers would turn off. I had a blast playing him. My plan was to save up all his XP and when he eventually figured out what was going wrong, spending the XP as a way of him figuring out how to conserve power.

Re: Campaign Concept Source: "No Ordinary Family" They can't decide what to do. I wouldn't let my kids watch it, sure there are a lot of cute and cuddly moments, then a cop gets shot in the face, or a kid get terrorized in his home. They're boring the hell out of the adults that may want to watch it, but keeping enough violence in it to keep the younger ones away. My wife and I will still watch it because we used to watch Heroes together and this has replaced that "Wife time" time slot, and I like J. J. (still), but I wouldn't lost a second of sleep if the show never came on again.

Re: The move to FTP

Re: UAA Clarification The real question is, how did the Teleport power hit him? Unless the attacking Teleport power has indirect, you couldn't hit the target inside. That would be my take. If the Attacking Teleport power has the indirect advantage, then I would allow you to target the driver, and the driver would have to have the Teleport power, not the vehicle.

Re: Hero doesn't have complete control over powers I would absolutely take it as a Complication (Disad in 5th).

Re: Help with 6th Edition Characters So published characters have that stat even with no Mental Powers? Hmm what if you were able to use it to Block Mental Attacks the same way OCV Blocks physical attacks? That would provide a use for ALL characters and even reason for non-mentalists to buy it up. Along those lines, I was thinking about this with the Martial Artist above, I've bought his punches as Blast. By the rules Blast can be Missile Deflected punches can't. My inital thought (and what I went with) was this was a -0 Disadvantage that it can be Blocked not Missile Deflected, so I didn't bother including it. I just started thinking that EVERYONE can Block, but not everyone can Missile Deflect. Do you think that's worth a -1/4? I do realize this may well put me into the Power Gamer zone, but I was just curious.

Re: Defense Maneuver IV Assigning CSL's is a 0 Phase Action. This means that, even when you enter combat you still can't assign them until your DEX comes up. So having DM IV can be very useful. Sean, Are you absolutely sure they're halved even with DM IV? I was under the (mistaken?) impression that they weren't.

Re: Campaign Concept Source: "No Ordinary Family"

Re: The move to FTP Wow they want $300 for the lifetime sub. Good luck with that.

Re: Help with 6th Edition Characters For the Martial Artist, I was thinking that he might be the son of one of the masters at Yengtao. His master's dying words were to find Shamballah and complete his training. The Empyrean Athena was more of a "Working Title", I hadn't decided on an actual name yet. That may not be a bad suggestion though. The other question I had, is it considered power-gamer-ish to sell back OMCV if you have no Mental Powers? I didn't do it because I figured it was safer that way, but I would really like those wasted 9 points back

Re: Soon to be New Player Don't let them look at the system at all. Make it about Role-Playing the type of character they want. Instead of handing them the rule book and telling them to make a character, hide the rule book behind the GM's screen and ask what type of character they want to play. Ask them how they visualize their character, what role so they see their character playing. Then design the character. When you're done, allow them to customize. Show they where you put their STR and what that number means. Tell them that a 20 STR is like an 18/00 in 2nd ed. D&D. It's possible to go higher than that but it's rare for PC's. In combat do the same thing. Don't hand them a list of maneuvers and say pick one, ask them what they want to do. Have them explain it to you in narrative, then, as GM, translate that into game mechanics and show then show them how you did it. Try to get them out of the habit of "I swing my sword". I remember I couldn't get new players out of that rut, so the next time they were attacked, I used it against them. The main fighter was out in front and I said the monster was quick, running towards the main fighter with a short sword in a reverse grip. The fighter stated his action was going to be waiting until the monster was in range and then swing his sword. The monster won a DEX roll meaning he went before the fighter, and so when the monster got close, he bounded off the side wall over the main fighter and delivered a slash to the fighter's back, while the fighter wasted his attack by swinging in front where the monster was. The response was an immediate "I didn't know you could do that!" and I called that a lesson learned. I hope this example answers some of your other questions also.

Okay so I've been begging on Hero Central for someone to come up with a "Vanilla" Champions game set in the basic Champs Universe. Someone actually plans on starting one, and now I'm having trouble creating a character. I've drawn up two using 6th Ed. and since these are my first two characters I thought I'd ask for input from everyone. The first one is a Martial Arts Master. I'm picturing him the philosophical type, tries to avoid the fight but will punish you if you pick the fight anyway. Basic background is he was training at the Yengtao Temple when it was destroyed, his master killed, but he found his way to Shamballah and trained there. For some reason I haven't come up with yet, made his way to the USA to fight crime. I'll set the write up in Spoiler tags to reduce space (I don't like the Code boxes). The points are 500 point character and 50 points in complications. The second character is an Empyrian who's been around since ancient Greek times. She loves to fight. This version of her she knows she's an Empyrian, and she uses her Transformation powers to alter special Empyrian metal into different weapons and things. I've also thought of versions of her without weapons (making her more like her inspiration of Wonder Woman), and one where she doesn't know she's Empyrian (same basic powers) but I think I want her to know. So there they are. I'm taking input on everything builds, backgrounds, names, opinions on which one you like better (and why preferably) everything. If anything looks hokey or cheesy let me know. I'd also take ideas for another character concept.

Re: 5th Edition: Naked Advantage In A Focus ? There's actually an option in Increased END that would do it as well. Increased Endurance Cost x3 END; Only In Certain Circumstances. So if you the Circumstances in which you paid x3 END Cost were Uncommon, meaning you rarely paid x3 END, the Limitation is decreased by +1 (making x3 END a 0 point limitation), if they were Common the reduction would be +3/4 (making x3 END a -1/4 Limitation), and if they are Very Common, meaning you almost always paid x3 END, the reduction is +1/4 (making x3 a -3/4 limitation).

Re: Enhanced Senses query: when do you need to buy Discriminatory?

Re: Campaign Concept Source: "No Ordinary Family" While they're moving incredibly slow with the plot, I think the wife's boss is going to be the main antagonist of the show. There are tons of plot holes they aren't trying to fill at all. It seems the wife has simply given up trying to figure out how they got their powers, especially after learning others have powers too. The writers have completely ignored going into the boss' agenda. I don't know it's like they started off wanting to make it a serial but a few episodes in decided they were going to take the Gilligan's Island route, where they tell one story then everything resets at the end so that the episodes can happen in almost any order. I'm becoming extremely unsatisfied with the show and now just watch it to see the cool things J. J. does.

Re: Enhanced Senses query: when do you need to buy Discriminatory? If Sight is defined a "Partially Discriminatory" than I would rule that you need to buy Discriminatory, to make it fully and not partially, before you could buy Analyze. As far as the other discussion, I am in favor of defining sight as being "Partially Discriminatory".

Re: Enhanced Senses query: when do you need to buy Discriminatory? You can't buy Analyze without first buying Discriminatory.

Re: New to 6E. Wow! Amazing system That's a good point. One of my fondest memories was running out of END during a fight with Mechanon. I had to hide in a garbage can... Good thing his N-Ray didn't work through Tin

Re: Teleportation Power Ideas? I think his concept is more like Nightcrawler though, he has to go with, and be touching whatever he teleports. This removes a lot of the suggested effects. You could go with a DEX (or OCV/DCV) Drain, to simulate the effect when Nightcrawler used to grab people and teleport them quickly. The other thing is you could probably make all of those fixed slots instead of Variable (especially the Megascale which is really Non-Combat movement anyway).

Re: Character Concept: Redirecting and amplifying teammate's attacks In order for this to work, you'd have to Aid your enemy's power before they attacked you with it. I would agree that this is probably the best way to do it, but isn't completely "rules legal" (for the reasons I've mentioned).

Re: The move to FTP Who cares about the game, the Costume creator is now FREE!!

Re: Character Concept: Redirecting and amplifying teammate's attacks The real reason this requires GM approval is that this is technically 2 different attacks. The original one that was reflected back and a 2d6 attack. By the rules they wouldn't combine to make one attack. The only way I can think of to make this work would be to get rid of the Reflection and just use Deflection. Then take something like an18d6 attack with a Trigger: Deflected Attack, Variable SFX mimics SFX of the Deflected Attack, and Only up to amount of attack deflected plus 2d6. I think that's the only "rules legal" way of doing it. You really can't do Aid, because you can't Aid a power you don't have.

Re: Advantage i almost never use: IPE Not entirely true. Most silencers all you will hear is the little pew you see in the movies... For 1 maybe 2 shots. There are better ones, for example there's an automatic assault rifle that the click-clack of the bolt is louder than than the actual round going off. Back on topic, in 5th ed any power that uses END is perceivable by three senses. Typically sight, hearing, touch (or feel). If you want it to by-pass one or more of those senses you need IPE.